. >> in just two hours, vice president joe biden will take his oath of office and all day long, cnn will bring you the ceremonies, the concerts, the celebrations and, of course, the political and the historical context of the day. first, we want to bring you up to date now on the hostage situation that is happening in alger algeria. the crisis is all over this morning, but so many questions, including how many people are still missing. here's what we do know at this hour. it launched a second assault yesterday that ended the standoff after three days. the interior ministry almost 700 hostages have been freed, as long with foreigners at least 23 hostages are dead, including three british citizens and so are dozens of islamic militants. i'm joined by our pentagon correspondent barbara starr. first of all, are any americans missing and what is washington saying at this point? >> good morning, randi. this violent and unstable situation over, but the u.s. is still trying to determine what happened. now, according to the state department. one american man, one american citizen is dead. six oth